Search Results for: Dominican Republic

By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut

June has been a month of elections in the Middle East. As happens every now and again in a region pretty thin on democracy and heavy on dynastic rule, there are elections that matter. The outcome of the Lebanese and Iranian elections fall in this rather rare category, with the Lebanese result retaining a status quo the West is happy with, while the Iranian 'result' is further souring relations with the US and Europe.

For despite being on either side of the Middle East, with Beirut and Tehran being as geographically far apart as London and Rome, the results play into the region’s fractious politics. The common ground is Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.…

By Keith Nuthall, International News Services

This week, a small proportion of Europe’s electors (maybe less than 30%) will drift over to their polling station to do their European Union (EU) civic duty and vote for a European Parliament representative. That the proportion of EU citizens undertaking this easy task has dwindled is testimony to the failure of the parliament to do its job: to exercise power on behalf of the majority of the EU population.

Because, at the risk of sounding patronising, isn’t the point of participating in elections to win, and then use the levers of authority offered in a political system to shape society, the economy and culture?

And European Parliament elections just don’t deliver this.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

TURKEY’S bid to become part of the European Union (EU) has resulted in tougher banking and financial regulations, in addition to a strengthened financial intelligence unit at the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. But while the country has ramped up its counterterrorist financing initiatives to thwart funding to Kurdish separatist groups such as the PKK, Turkey’s position as a crossroads between the East and West has resulted in significant challenges to rein in the surge in narcotics trafficking and organised crime.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN dairy sector will be disappointed by the failure of the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers for agriculture (22-6) today not to restrict dairy quotas. Speaking after the meeting in Luxembourg, EU agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said this year EU dairy production had not exceeded existing quotas – but there had been an April production spike, which the Commission was investigating.…

BY MARK ROWE

The expansion of the European Union (EU) continues eastwards – and the food and drink industry of the existing EU will inevitably be affected by the new competition, as will companies in the new member countries.

The next few years are likely to see several countries accede to the EU.…

By Paul Cochrane

June has been a month of elections in the Middle East. As happens every now and again in a region pretty thin on democracy and heavy on dynastic rule, there are elections that matter. The outcome of the Lebanese and Iranian elections fall in this rather rare category, with the Lebanese result retaining a status quo the West is happy with, while the Iranian ‘result’ is further souring relations with the US and Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A REVISED food and drink trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Switzerland will provide wines and spirits from the 12 countries joining the EU since 2004 with key geographical indication protection in key Swiss export markets.…

BY SYMON ROSS

THE SIPTU (Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union) in Ireland expressed concern this month (May) the country’s Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has inadequate resources to carry out workplace inspections.

The union said with 200,000 workplaces in the Republic of Ireland and only around 14,000 workplace assessments annually, a business could wait more than 14 years for a safety check from an HSA inspector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THREATS from loggers to the rain forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have long concerned environmentalists. The construction of roads by mining and logging companies, although promoters of economic growth, has also been seen as creating routes for the unsustainable stripping of forests of their trees, robbing Congolese of traditional sources of food, medicine, domestic energy, building materials and income.…

BY MARTINA MARE?KOVÁ

V?RA Klime?ová, 33, a registered nurse at the University Hospital Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, in eastern Bohemia, the Czech Republic, offers an insightful look at her country’s nursing profession.

Her hospital has a pleasant environment and even if it does not suffer from the same nursing shortages like many other hospitals in the country, its staff admits that the Czech healthcare system has serious flaws.…